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Google PageRank Update: December 30, 2009

So despite claims of ditching the little green pixel bar, Google has once again updated their Tool Bar PageRank (TBPR) about an hour ago, at 8 p.m. on December 30, 2009. I noticed the change immediately when I was doing a little WordStream brand searching and saw in the SERPs that we'd jumped from a PR5 to a robust PR6. The change literally took place before my eyes. One minute we were PR5, then next search: BOOM! PR6. Totally geeky, I know, but my heart skipped a beat. The actual SEO for Firefox Toolbar has yet to update though. It's still reading PR5, but I'm sure that will change by tomorrow. I'm also seeing changes across many of my sites, all for the better, which is a nice way to kick off 2010.

By my count, this is the sixth and final update for 2009, with the last PageRank update occurring on October 29, 2009. Note that in 2008, there were a total of five TBPR updates, with one occurring on the night before New Year's Eve, similar to this update. With this latest PageRank update, we've trumped last year's updates meaning Google is updating PR more frequently. So one can only come to the conclusion that "rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated."

For reference, Google PageRank is a link analysis algorithm (named after Larry Page, co-founder of Google), which Google uses to assign a numerical weighting to measure the authority, value or importance of a webpage. Nobody outside of Google knows the actual PageRank of a document.

Toolbar PageRank, on the hand, is the green pixel bar that displays on your toolbar and something Google says is "for entertainment purposes only." Sure, Toolbar PageRank may be a suspect metric, but it's all we've got to go on because Google's not giving us a peak at real PageRank. Personally, I feel TBPR offers a decent way to evaluate the link health of a website. But that's just me.

Either way, I'd be very curious to know if anybody else seen evidence of this latest PageRank update?

Comments

All my sites changed too, at the same time you've stated. From PR2 to PR3. I'm not big time like you yet!

dr mum

Dec 31, 2009

ERHH! What?

Andrew Keir

Dec 31, 2009

An update for me also, 1 point down though i'm afraid :(

Anonymous

Dec 31, 2009

Hi.. yes you are right, PR was update last night. The first thing i noticed today morning when i came to office is THE GREEN BAR. It is fantastic that we have moved from PR1-PR2. If things keep going well then we are predicting PR5 at the end of 2010. Thank you

Shaun

Dec 31, 2009

I can confirm the pagerank update. I was surprised to see my site jump from a 0 to 3. Happy new year Google!

Charles

Dec 31, 2009

Confirmed.

So we're now looking at 5 PR updates per year... I feel that the more often the public facing PR is updated the better. Even though it's said that you should not focus on your PR we all know that everyone in this industry does.

This is one very important bellwether for our sites' progress.

Ken Lyons

Dec 31, 2009

Charles, by my count, there have been 6 TBPR updates in 2009.
Cheers!
Ken

Charles

Dec 31, 2009

Ken,

Thanks for the correction.

In your opinion do you believe we will see a greater number of PR updates in 2010 VS the 6 updates in 2009?

Ken Lyons

Dec 31, 2009

Hey, Charles.
No idea how many PageRank updates there'll be in 2010. Especially when you consider all the talk out of Google about not confusing Webmasters with senseless metrics and them removing TBPR from Webmaster Tools, I fully expected that TBPR would be extinct by now. However, since removing TBPR from Webmaster Tools, Google has implemented two PageRank updates. So judging by their actions, Toolbar PageRank seems to have been granted a stay of execution.
Ken

Richard

Dec 31, 2009

A Contrarian Viewpoint

Yes, one little website that I follow went from a PageRank of 0 to 1.

But I'm not celebrating :)

If the majority of websites have increased in their PageRank, is it worth celebrating? This reminds me of attending a high school graduation in a small central Illinois town a few years ago where about 40 students graduated from high school that year and about 6 of them had perfect G.P.A.'s. Interesting, but mathematically doubtful.

My guess is that Google changed its PageRank algorithm and many low to mid-level websites benefited from the changed algorithm. But as my readings of WordStream articles have taught me, PageRanks vary within a site for each individual page. So even if the PageRank for home pages of low to medium traffic websites have increased, we still don't know what has happened to page ranks throughout those websites.

But now that you've pointed it out Ken, I'm now actively using the Google PageRank toolbar and a few other fine tools I've discovered. This article, like other WordStream articles, has both taught me and given me other new questions to resolve.

Happy New Year everyone.

Sava Intl

Jan 01, 2010

I worked hard but my site did not get PR what could be the reason, google has change his algo or something new he has added anybody have comment..

Kartu-pulsaku.com solusi bisnis online Anda

Jan 01, 2010

It is fantastic to see my site from a 1 to 2. Happy new year Google!

Tony Murphy

Jan 04, 2010

congratulations,

my site went up +1 to 3, and quiet a few internal pages are 2 to 4, so "on the face of it" quiet good

cheers
Tony

Elad

Jan 04, 2010

Damn, my site went down from 4 to 3.

Gourav sharma

Mar 08, 2010

Anyone knows the next PR update? in last update i got PR4 for my forum now i am looking tyo have PR juice for my new blog....